Wipers return to "Home"

Bullitt · Nov 16, 2007

While I've got everything apart I wanted to find out why my wipers won't return to the base of the windshield when you turn them off. At the moment you have to get lucky flipping the switch at the right point to turn them off. I seem to remember they worked like a modern set at some point??

Anyways, I don't think this is built into the switch, is it part of the motor or somewhere else?

Thanks for the help!

GNGREN · Nov 16, 2007

I had this problem years ago with my 67. On the back of the instrament panel I had a wire come off of the switch. If you had the dash apart I would check there. I believe it was a black wire? That came off mine. it was connected to the wiper switch.

Markus · Nov 16, 2007

Hello,

i had the same problem last year.
Look at the foot operated washer switch. On my mustang the wiring connector was loose.

Markus

bnickel · Nov 16, 2007

there is a "park" switch on the motor itself or there should be anyway, check the motor out

rbohm · Nov 16, 2007

bnickel said:
there is a "park" switch on the motor itself or there should be anyway, check the motor out

what he said.

ratio411 · Nov 19, 2007

My 72 Maverick does that too.
Very annoying in rain.

My wipers don't travel together either.
One side is always out of time with the other.

bnickel · Nov 19, 2007

ratio411 said:
My 72 Maverick does that too.
Very annoying in rain.

My wipers don't travel together either.
One side is always out of time with the other.

that's a bad transmission or F-ed up linkage there. my old 70 cougar did this little dance with the passenger side wiper because the bushing the trashed.

ron67fb · Nov 19, 2007

This reminds me of a little adventure I had with a co-worker's 351 powered '67. Since I commuted by train he offered to drive me home one rainy night so he could check my car out. As we got rolling his wipers barely crept across the window so he had to reach out with a squeegee to flick them up. We could barely see out the window due to the fogged up windshield so he grabs a handful of Burger King napkins off the dash and literally tosses them to me while his other hand is out the window, "Here, wipe that **** out man". When the car got onto the freeway the wind speed was too much for the wiper motor to handle so the blades stayed in the "up" position. So there we were on the freeway at 60mph, in the pouring rain, one window open so he could squeegee the rain off the windshield, while I'm frantically wiping the fog away from the inside. That was the one and only time I rode in the car.

bnickel · Nov 19, 2007

ron67fb said:
This reminds me of a little adventure I had with a co-worker's 351 powered '67. Since I commuted by train he offered to drive me home one rainy night so he could check my car out. As we got rolling his wipers barely crept across the window so he had to reach out with a squeegee to flick them up. We could barely see out the window due to the fogged up windshield so he grabs a handful of Burger King napkins off the dash and literally tosses them to me while his other hand is out the window, "Here, wipe that **** out man". When the car got onto the freeway the wind speed was too much for the wiper motor to handle so the blades stayed in the "up" position. So there we were on the freeway at 60mph, in the pouring rain, one window open so he could squeegee the rain off the windshield, while I'm frantically wiping the fog away from the inside. That was the one and only time I rode in the car.

try being towed behind a pickup (my dad's) for 65 miles and 65-70 mph in the rain with all kinds of mud being kicked on the windshield and one windshield wiper decides to break off so have to turn the wipers off to keep ruining the windshield and you have no way to stop because everytime you step on the brakes to slow down the truck in front of you the guy driving (my dad) just puts foot in it more to get back up to speed. i crapped my pants at least twice during that little adventure!!!!

bnickel · Nov 19, 2007

here's a similar scenario; we towed a buddies 66 chevy truck from the school shop back to his house with his 64 chevy truck and it started raining on the way, unfortunately they made me "drive" the truck being towed and it didn't have a battery in it so i had no wipers nor did i have a defroster either, going down the big hill to his house, which i couldn't see "my" truck caught up with his on the way down down the hill twice and nearly put us in the ditch both times, luckily the only real damahe to either truck was a little scraped paint on the bumpers which just added to the other scratches on the bumpers. he started to yell at me when we got to the house finally and i just pointed at the foggy windshield of the truck and said "no battery equals no defroster or wipers or dude and BTW your brake lights don't work on the other truck" he stood there for a second and then started laughing and said "i knew i forgot something" the battery was in the bed of the truck he was driving.

jbuening · Nov 21, 2007

Out of curiosity, these wipers aren't supposed to drop further down towards the cowl when the wipers are turned off right? Both my 70 cars will return to the down position if you turn them off when they are say midway through the wiping cycle. Modern cars have the bottom position in the wiping cycle, but when you turn the wipers off the return even lower down the windshield. Is this the "park" position everyone speaks of? Curious why neither of my cars have this park position, if this is the case. Just for my own edification i guess

bnickel · Nov 21, 2007

both style functionally have the same "Park" mechanism as each other they just work a little differently in application. the Park feature on the early cars just returns the wipers to the down position instead of them stopping in the middle of the windshield, in reality it's returning the wipers to the "start" position.

jbuening · Nov 21, 2007

Gotcha, so the "park" is the starting position. Just making sure, as my newer vehicles tuck the wipers down into the cowl after you turn them off. This position is lower than the starting position. Just making sure my wipers are working correctly

bnickel · Nov 21, 2007

jbuening said:
Gotcha, so the "park" is the starting position. Just making sure, as my newer vehicles tuck the wipers down into the cowl after you turn them off. This position is lower than the starting position. Just making sure my wipers are working correctly

that's on cars with "hidden wipers" that tuck in below the cowl, in either case there is still a park switch to tell the motor to return the wipers to the start position.

i think an early stang with the hidden wipers and a really long hood like that would look kinda funny, it'd totally take away from that vintage look. i also think that's one of the reasons everyone always thinks the 71-73 stangs are so much bigger than the early cars when in reality they aren't all that much bigger or heavier, at least as compared to the 69/70 anyway.

Bullitt · Nov 22, 2007

Thanks for the tips guys.
Had to travel over Thanksgiving, but will be checking into it when I get back!

BarnStang · Nov 22, 2007

You will see how it works when you pull the wiper motor apart. We beat on one for an hour and checked Carquest. Got a rebuilt one for $40 by 1pm. Not worth the time or trouble. THe park switch is adjustable, but it's the contacts that fail. I tried running emory cloth accross both side of the contacts, but still could not get the thing to park on the bench with a 12v power supply. Had to draw out the switch and wiring by hand. I have not found a detailed diagram of the wiper motor yet.

jlangholzj · Nov 22, 2007

lol, it's knid of jimmy-riggin it, but mine had the same problem, so i poped em off the studs, and moved them down a notch oh well, works for me!

Bullitt · Dec 26, 2008

Old thread revival, but stuck...

Replaced the wiper motor and the wiper still don't "park". Following my Ford shop manual troubleshooting guide I jumpered the white / black wires and connected red to power on the motor and it "parked" by itself just fine.

Pulled the switch and again following the shop manual directions checked for resistance across the applicable terminals and got continuity indicating the switch is "ok".

This leaves a ground problem...

But, looking at the wiring diagram, the ground from the switch goes directly to the ground on the motor plug and the motor itself is grounded. The only connection on the motor is the 4 wire plug which goes into the dash harness. I'm assuming it grounds through the case, so shouldn't that mean the ground is ok????

Confused!!!

BarnStang · Dec 26, 2008

Not sure what years, but some have a seperate ground wire. I'll look over the 67 diagram in a bit.

Grabber70Mach · Dec 26, 2008

Bullitt said:
Old thread revival, but stuck...

Replaced the wiper motor and the wiper still don't "park". Following my Ford shop manual troubleshooting guide I jumpered the white / black wires and connected red to power on the motor and it "parked" by itself just fine.

Pulled the switch and again following the shop manual directions checked for resistance across the applicable terminals and got continuity indicating the switch is "ok".

This leaves a ground problem...

But, looking at the wiring diagram, the ground from the switch goes directly to the ground on the motor plug and the motor itself is grounded. The only connection on the motor is the 4 wire plug which goes into the dash harness. I'm assuming it grounds through the case, so shouldn't that mean the ground is ok????

Confused!!!

Just throwing an idea out, some motors use rubber isolators at the mounting points to eliminate noise. Is it possible that there should be a ground wire from the motor to the body?

Wipers return to "Home"

Bullitt

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